diff --git a/make/prepare b/make/prepare
index c0ef48262d5..8742c150e97 100755
--- a/make/prepare
+++ b/make/prepare
@@ -50,12 +50,19 @@ fi
 secret_dir=${data_path}/secret
 config_dir=$harbor_prepare_path/common/config
 
+# Set the prepare base dir, for mac, it should be $HOME, for linux, it should be /
+# The certificate and the data directory in harbor.yaml should be sub directories of $HOME when installing Harbor in MacOS
+prepare_base_dir=/
+if [ "$(uname)" == "Darwin" ]; then
+    prepare_base_dir=$HOME
+fi
+
 # Run prepare script
 docker run --rm -v $input_dir:/input \
                     -v $data_path:/data \
                     -v $harbor_prepare_path:/compose_location \
                     -v $config_dir:/config \
-                    -v /:/hostfs \
+                    -v ${prepare_base_dir}:/hostfs${prepare_base_dir} \
                     --privileged \
                     goharbor/prepare:dev prepare $@